Will Hughes

[Duracell]

The fact Will Hughes hasn't properly made it in elite football demonstrates I just don't understand the game.

Can't fathom it. To my uncoached eye he is the most intelligent and naturally talented player I've ever seen play for Derby. A joy to watch. 

 

[Dimmu]

5 minutes ago, Duracell said:

The fact Will Hughes hasn't properly made it in elite football demonstrates I just don't understand the game.

Can't fathom it. To my uncoached eye he is the most intelligent and naturally talented player I've ever seen play for Derby. A joy to watch. 

 

No it doesn't. It just highlights how Rowett and Vieira are clueless! ? He did alright with Wolves, even though played in a weird role.

Game of opinions, and that's why we love it.

[duncanjwitham]

48 minutes ago, Duracell said:

The fact Will Hughes hasn't properly made it in elite football demonstrates I just don't understand the game.

Can't fathom it. To my uncoached eye he is the most intelligent and naturally talented player I've ever seen play for Derby. A joy to watch. 

 

I think part of it just comes down to the way he plays.  He doesn't really do "big things".  After a game, you might remember the 30 yard wonder strike from your attacking midfielder, or the inch-perfect goal saving tackle from your centre half, but the 20 perfectly-weighted and timed passes that Hughes played into forward's feet will just get forgotten. The biggest, most consistent criticism of Hughes you see on Twitter and messageboards is "he never does anything".  

It makes him easy to replace in the team too - if you need more goals, it's easy to take Hughes out for a goal-scoring midfielder, you get overrun in there you take him out for a tough-tackler etc. It takes a manager that's very confident in his approach to the game to stand up and say "we will score more goals if we have Hughes in the team passing the ball, than a midfielder that just scores goals" and "we will keep more clean sheets if we have Hughes helping us keep the ball, than a defensive midfielder tackling people".

Don't get me wrong, I also think he's one of the best players I've ever seen play for us too.  But there seems to be an English mindset about what players should be doing on the pitch ("strikers just score goals" etc), and players that don't do those things get overlooked.

[Duracell]

4 minutes ago, duncanjwitham said:

Don't get me wrong, I also think he's one of the best players I've ever seen play for us too.  But there seems to be an English mindset about what players should be doing on the pitch ("strikers just score goals" etc), and players that don't do those things get overlooked.

Completely agree with you here and we've been here before with topics on Hughes, and the lazy cliche here is to wonder if he wasn't better off moving abroad, where his lack of pace would be no hindrance.

My feeling about the 'he doesn't even do nuffin' criticism is that he would do more if given the freedom to. His intelligence and footballing brain so often means he is sacrificed to do things that are much less glamorous. If you think about the goals and assists he produced for us, the potential to do more was always there.

I also take @Dimmu's point that he's done alright at Watford, which isn't bad. Still think his potential was much more than performing well in a yo-yo Premier League/Championship team.

Edited December 14, 2021 by Duracell

[SFox1993]

1 hour ago, Dimmu said:

No it doesn't. It just highlights how Rowett and Vieira are clueless! ? He did alright with Wolves, even though played in a weird role.

Game of opinions, and that's why we love it.

Wolves ? I think you mean Watford

[Anon]

52 minutes ago, duncanjwitham said:

I think part of it just comes down to the way he plays.  He doesn't really do "big things".  After a game, you might remember the 30 yard wonder strike from your attacking midfielder, or the inch-perfect goal saving tackle from your centre half, but the 20 perfectly-weighted and timed passes that Hughes played into forward's feet will just get forgotten. The biggest, most consistent criticism of Hughes you see on Twitter and messageboards is "he never does anything".  

It makes him easy to replace in the team too - if you need more goals, it's easy to take Hughes out for a goal-scoring midfielder, you get overrun in there you take him out for a tough-tackler etc. It takes a manager that's very confident in his approach to the game to stand up and say "we will score more goals if we have Hughes in the team passing the ball, than a midfielder that just scores goals" and "we will keep more clean sheets if we have Hughes helping us keep the ball, than a defensive midfielder tackling people".

Don't get me wrong, I also think he's one of the best players I've ever seen play for us too.  But there seems to be an English mindset about what players should be doing on the pitch ("strikers just score goals" etc), and players that don't do those things get overlooked.

I think you're correct with the "big plays" argument. It's infuriatingly common in the modern game, especially if you happen to play for unfashionable teams that aren't on the telly every week. Thanks to the Americanisation of our game we now have an entire generation of fans who are obsessed with stats and highlight reels who barely ever watch a full game. As an example I always use Adam Reach, a poor footballer who has managed to play above his level for years on the basis that he scores two 30 yard screamers per season.

It also never helped Hughes that he played for an unfashionable team in the 2nd tier. Remember Southgate consistently selecting Tom Carroll (now in the 3rd tier) over Hughes for the U21s? When we get irritated about losing young players like Gordon and Delap to Premier League reserve teams always remember the example set by the current England manager. You're far more likely to get recognition sitting on the bench for a top six Premier League team, than you are for playing 40 games a year in the Championship.

[duncanjwitham]

56 minutes ago, Duracell said:

Completely agree with you here and we've been here before with topics on Hughes, and the lazy cliche here is to wonder if he wasn't better off moving abroad, where his lack of pace would be no hindrance.

My feeling about the 'he doesn't even do nuffin' criticism is that he would do more if given the freedom to. His intelligence and footballing brain so often means he is sacrificed to do things that are much less glamorous. If you think about the goals and assists he produced for us, the potential to do more was always there.

I also take @Dimmu's point that he's done alright at Watford, which isn't bad. Still think his potential was much more than performing well in a yo-yo Premier League/Championship team.

I don't think the "moving abroad" thing is about lack of pace, so much as footballing-culture.  Fans and managers in countries like Spain are much more accepting of midfielders that just pass the ball.  And he's not that slow for a central midfielder anyway. His slight lack of pace is only a real issue if he's being used out of position as a winger or something.

I have no doubt that Hughes would be fine played further forward. But I genuinely think his best role is the one he played under McClaren for us - a sort of midfielder facilitator, just keeping it moving, knitting things together and so on.  Having someone do that means you can afford to have much more specialised players around him, you can have a holding midfielder just sit, you can have an attacking midfielder bombing on and so on.  Every single other player in the team is going to play better because Hughes is making it easy for them.  

The really frustrating thing for me is, he would be absolutely perfect for the current Liverpool setup - 3 midfielders just keeping the ball and springing that front 3 whenever they get a chance would suit him so well.

[Ghost of Clough]

On 12/12/2021 at 21:44, David said:

Was at the start of the season but been on the bench for quite a while now....I hope. Just whenever I looked he was there so happily proven wrong.

Correct 

[Dimmu]

3 hours ago, SFox1993 said:

Wolves ? I think you mean Watford

Well, they both start with W...

? I was posting way too early.

[Eddie]

6 hours ago, Dimmu said:

Well, they both start with W...

? I was posting way too early.

Post early for Christmas.

[DerbyPride]

 

[NottsRammy]

The problem with Will Hughes is Derby fans have ALWAYS over rated him . I have sat and watched him loads , he doesnt score enough goals and his biggest problem is he is the maestro of the sideways safe pass nearly 95% of his time . Vastly and i mean vastly over rated by our own fans .

[Ghost of Clough]

18 hours ago, NottsRammy said:

The problem with Will Hughes is Derby fans have ALWAYS over rated him . I have sat and watched him loads , he doesnt score enough goals and his biggest problem is he is the maestro of the sideways safe pass nearly 95% of his time . Vastly and i mean vastly over rated by our own fans .

Is Jordan Henderson overated too because he doesn't score enough goals for Liverpool or England?

[NottsRammy]

2 minutes ago, Ghost of Clough said:

Is Jordan Henderson overated too because he doesn't score enough goals for Liverpool or England?

The Will Hughes love in is embarrassing on here it really is , he is a decent footballer , but i think we have be so use to seeing utter rubbish for quite a few years the moment someone comes out of the academy with even a nouse how to pass the ball we all get over excited and put 20 million on him .

Look for a player like Hughes to be as good as a lot seem to think he is he needs to score a lot more goals and he needs to play alot more clever THROUGH balls instead of timmy tappy sideways getting nowhere passes . I have sat and watched him solely in games and the fact is he plays far to many safe passes .Mount before he broke into england and chelsea properly instantly showed what Hughes should be Will Hughes is a poor mans Mount . But i wish him all the best and wouldnt not be averse to him back with the rams eventually but i dont see him if he should return one day as the prodigal son who will save us and he has been the next Maradona . Think people need to get a grip on Will hughes . Neither Hughes or Hendrick have gone on to huge success which says it all doesnt it . 

[TigerTedd]

46 minutes ago, NottsRammy said:

The Will Hughes love in is embarrassing on here it really is , he is a decent footballer , but i think we have be so use to seeing utter rubbish for quite a few years the moment someone comes out of the academy with even a nouse how to pass the ball we all get over excited and put 20 million on him .

Look for a player like Hughes to be as good as a lot seem to think he is he needs to score a lot more goals and he needs to play alot more clever THROUGH balls instead of timmy tappy sideways getting nowhere passes . I have sat and watched him solely in games and the fact is he plays far to many safe passes .Mount before he broke into england and chelsea properly instantly showed what Hughes should be Will Hughes is a poor mans Mount . But i wish him all the best and wouldnt not be averse to him back with the rams eventually but i dont see him if he should return one day as the prodigal son who will save us and he has been the next Maradona . Think people need to get a grip on Will hughes . Neither Hughes or Hendrick have gone on to huge success which says it all doesnt it . 

They’ve both gone on to more success than Derby have though. Do they may not be world beaters, but they’re both a cut above us. They’d definitely both improve us. 

they’re decent footballers in the premier league, so they would be great footballers in the championship. 

[Day]

48 minutes ago, NottsRammy said:

The Will Hughes love in is embarrassing on here it really is

Why is wanting to see a player do well from our academy embarrassing? 

I would say it's fairly normal football fan behaviour.

[NottsRammy]

39 minutes ago, David said:

Why is wanting to see a player do well from our academy embarrassing? 

I would say it's fairly normal football fan behaviour.

You know what im getting at im not saying that am i .

What im saying is people are making out that Hughes is alot better than he actually is , have very over inflated opinion of him . 

Edited December 17, 2021 by NottsRammy

[Day]

1 minute ago, NottsRammy said:

You know what im getting at im not saying that am i .

What im saying is people are making out that Hughes is alot better than he actually is , have very over inflated opinion of him . 

You know what they say, football is a game of opinions. 

I haven't personally seen much if any what I would call over inflated opinions, no England call ups, Man City captain material suggestions, just a wish to see him do well.

You said it yourself, he's a decent footballer, and here we are in the Ex Rams board just watching his career from a far hoping for the best.

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

19 minutes ago, NottsRammy said:

You know what im getting at im not saying that am i .

What im saying is people are making out that Hughes is alot better than he actually is , have very over inflated opinion of him . 

I think Hughes was a very good young player who regressed whilst here via a combination of a nasty knee injury and being forced into   making heavier tackles than he was comfortable with under later management. He wasn't physically up to it and every one looked like it was limiting his own game. Probably what caused the knee injury.  For Hughes read Giles Barnes who was probably better in my opinion.  Derby County and knees don't go well together.  A fit midfield of Hendrick, Bryson, Hughes and Thorne  would get 100 points in this league mind, without the need to spend 10.5 million on replacements . Shame they were broken at different times.

[Day]

10 minutes ago, Gee SCREAMER !! said:

Derby County and knees don't go well together.

Especially the knees up!